


critter cottage

by andromourir



Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: 75 days of skam, Animal Shelter, M/M, bish i wrote this in 5 hours im gay and tired bye, volunteering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-27 20:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20052139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andromourir/pseuds/andromourir
Summary: As he walked further into the room, he watched the rise and fall of eliott's chest, the way his hair is messily sprawled along the pillow, a few strands scattered across his forehead and cheekbones.this is who i’m meant to spend the rest of my life with





	critter cottage

**Author's Note:**

> tysm to kari for making my life easier and making eliott a dog person
> 
> this is for the 75 skam dates: animal shelter and volunteering

If you told Lucas a year ago, that today he’d be standing in a room full of animals with a boy that he adored more than life, he would have rolled his eyes and walked away. 

He had been wanting to take Eliott out for a date for a while now, but hadn’t thought of any ideas until Basile had brought it up. Apparently, daphne had dragged him to a nearby animal shelter to drop off bags of animal food for donation, and they had ended up playing in the puppy room for a few hours. 

So here he was now. Leaning against the doorway watching his boyfriend curled up on his bed, illuminated by the glow of the noon sun. 

Eliott had been running himself ragged before his bac exams, and now that they were finally done, he had a chance to rest. He had been more subdued this past week, spending his time sleeping at his or Lucas’ place. Lucas wasn’t quite sure if this was just exhaustion, or if it was possibly a depressive episode. Either way, he took the time to make sure that his room was clean, there was always a glass of water next to the bed, and that the blankets were covering Eliott so he wouldn’t be cold. It was the little things that Lucas did, making sure things were in order to reduce his boyfriends stress. 

As he walked further into the room, he watched the rise and fall of Eliott’s chest, the way his hair is messily sprawled along the pillow, a few strands scattered across his forehead and cheekbones. 

_this is who i’m meant to spend the rest of my life with._

Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, Lucas began to run his fingers through Eliott’s hair for a few moments, before resigning himself to shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

“Eliott? Eliott, come on, wake up.” he prodded gently. “We gotta get going soon, baby.” With that, Eliott began uncurl his body, moving Lucas hand off his shoulder as he began to stretch. 

“Remind me why I agreed to go with you in the first place,” Eliott yawned. “because I could still be sleeping right now.” Lucas rolled his eyes and began to tug Eliott further out of bed.

“Because for once in my life, I’d like to be romantic to you, mister.” With that, Eliottt's grin softened.

Pressing a kiss to Lucas cheek, Eliott grabbed the jeans he had flung over Lucas desk chair, before tugging on one of the several hoodies that Lucas had stolen from him. 

“So let's go.”

* * *

“So, our volunteers have the option to choose which area they would like to work in. We have birds, kittens, cats, small rodents, puppies, dogs, and reptiles. Which would you like to work with?” The receptionist of the animal shelter they were currently visiting seemed excited that they were choosing to volunteer here, which made Lucas wonder about how often people actually came there. He knew that many preferred to get a purebred rather than to adopt, but personally, he would love to get one from the shelter. Sue him, he’s a sucker for animals. 

“I think we’ll just stick with dogs, please.” Lucas responded, watching Eliott who was now watching some of the cats crawl around an enclosed room.

Lucas was given a badge for himself and Eliott, before following another staff member down several halls. 

“As you may understand, several of these older dogs were either dropped off from families who could not care for them anymore or have been rescued from mistreatment in their past homes. We keep the more aggressive dogs who have no chance for rehoming in a separate part of the shelter, so they get the proper care they need. The dogs in these kennels are safer than those, but I will warn you that some of them might not want to interact with you due to their past. Most of them have just finished feeding, so if you want to help feed the last few kennels that would be helpful. The food is in that closet in the corner, and bowls are in each of the kennels. Feel free to holler if you need me.” Once he had finished gesturing towards the closet, he waved to Lucas and Eliott before walking back towards the offices. 

Turning towards his boyfriend, Lucas mocked the staff members hand movements.

There was an ease of routine as the fed the remaining dogs, Lucas pouring the food in the bowl while Eliott made friends and cooing over each one _“Lucas I bet this little guy is called Jack”_ _“Eliott that’s a Great Dane and his sign says his name is George”_ to _“Eliott stop letting the dog climb all over you let him come eat”_ _“but lu, he’s just a big baby!”_ _“He’s a 2 year old 170 pound American Stanford pit bull”_ _“Lucas. His sign says he won’t go to sleep without a blanket covering him. He’s a baby.”_

Their bickering kept themselves and the dogs entertained for a while moving back and forth between the kennels to pet those who had finished eating. Lucas gathered the remaining food and put it back in the closet, turning around and expecting Eliott to be a few feet behind him. Instead, he was met with an unusually silent room. The only sounds he heard was faint breathing from the dogs who were still awake, and the occasional whimper or snore. 

“Eliott? Eliott, where are you?” His call met no response. 

He walked around the lines of kennels for a few minutes more, peering into the cages to see if his boyfriend had perched himself to pet more dogs. But he wasn’t there. 

Confused, he exited the section of dogs, weaving his way back to the main offices. He caught sight of the staff member who had showed them around.

Lucas jogged up to him before asking, “Have you seen the guy I was with earlier? Tall, messy hair, blue eyes?”

The employee looked down at the chart before raising his eyes to meet Lucas’. 

“Eliott? He was here just a moment ago, asked if we had any more shy and timid dogs that he could try to befriend. I sent him down to room 5A to meet with one of our behavioral specialists.” With that, Lucas began to search for that room, and after a few more minutes of running around, he spotted the room.

“Putain, Eliott. Why the fuck couldn’t you wait for me-“ Lucas had opened the door but trailed off when he spotted the position his boyfriend was in. 

Eliott has discarded his hoodie to the chair in the corner, and was now sitting up against the wall with his eyes closed. The room small counter and sink in the corner of it, and Lucas could just barely see the outline of a dog bed pressed underneath it. Hearing the door open, he gestured for lucas to sit across from him in the exact same position. 

“Did you really have to walk out and leave me like that? I was worried about you,” Lucas couldn’t help but be a bit annoyed. 

Eliott grinned, albeit sheepishly, “I’ve seen those videos where the girl befriends the shy dog and helps it come out of its shell. I wanted to try,” his grin disappeared a bit, grimacing as he continued. “I’m really sorry though. I shouldn’t have left you in there, and I should have said something. It was pretty stupid of me. Especially since you planned this entire thing.”

Lucas met Eliotts eyes briefly before nudging his foot against Eliott’s knee.

“S’okay. Where’s the dog though?” Lucas looked around the room. There was a basket of untouched toys in the corner with a water dish on the floor. 

“She is very shy, come here,” Lucas moved to sit next to Eliott as he continued, “Her name is Mazie. She’s a white goldendoodle and apparently has always been very shy.” Lucas could now clearly see a small white ball of fur, snout resting at the edge of the bed so that they were both in her gaze.

“I think that if we just sit here and not provoke her, she’ll eventually start to come over and sniff us. It worked with my cousins dog.”

And so they sat there. For the next half hour they sat against the wall, fingers interlocked, waiting for Mazie to find her own courage. Which she did. She began the pace the floor near them, getting close enough to sniff the material of Eliotts jeans before scuttling back and towards her bed again. The process repeated over and over again until she eventually jumped over their legs, and butted her head against their entwined hands. She began to leap over their legs, grabbing one of her bones from the basket before plopping herself between their legs, content to ignore them now. 

During this time, Eliott had videoed Lucas playing with the pup, smiling so widely that Lucas couldn’t help but mirror. 

_this is what it’s like to be happy._

And glancing at Eliott’s soft smile, dog hair covering his jeans and their hands linked together, Lucas is content to feel this way, everyday.

**Author's Note:**

> ahh so this might be the longest thing i've ever written that isn't an essay. for those of you waiting for months on end for the next chapter of abadoner, I'm going to try to start working on the next chapter sometime this week, and I'm currently working on a forgotten soulmates au that I might make multi-chaptered? it would be a hella long one-shot because it deals with five different time eras so the goal is to work on that was well. 
> 
> two of the dogs are actually based off of personal experience. my baby henry is an american stafford rescue, who has an enormous head, drools with no control, and cannot go to sleep without his blanket. he will sit and whine until you cover him up. Mazie is a dog that I pet sit for as well. She was extremely shy so the first day I was watching her I opened her cage, but i ended up laying on my stomach for an hour just watching her because she was too nervous. Eventually she did come out and now she is extemely playful, but it did involve a lot of patience.
> 
> anyways, remember! don't shop, adopt!
> 
> come say hi on tumblr! @spacekardemomme


End file.
